JP2003316480A - Information processing device and its operation control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processing device having a simple and inexpensive operation control device. <P>SOLUTION: This device comprises a time memory means 205a which memorizes a power-on time and a power-off time of the information processing device and a clock 206, performs power-on/off by the operation control device 114 using a microcomputer 201, requests a shutdown processing to an operating system to save data in use when detecting power-off by the operation control device 114, and turns off a main power source 119 of the information processing device after finishing the shutdown processing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and its operation control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an information processing apparatus such as a server, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is used as shown in FIG.
erSupply) 401 was used. The uninterruptible power supply 401 manages the time of power-on or power-off of the information processing device 400 by using dedicated management software, and controls the power-on or power-off of the information processing device 400. However, the uninterruptible power supply 401
Is a device for supplying stable power in the event of a power failure such as a momentary power failure, voltage fluctuation, or power failure, and even if the purpose is simply to turn the power on or off at a specified time, it is expensive. Uninterruptible power supply is used.

[0003]

In the operation control of an information processing apparatus using a conventional uninterruptible power supply, the uninterruptible power supply provides stable power when a power failure such as a momentary power failure, voltage fluctuation, or power failure occurs. Since it is a device designed to be supplied, there is a problem that when it is used for simple operation control, the cost is relatively large.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive information processing apparatus for controlling power on / off at a set time and its operating method. And

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is an information processing apparatus having an information processing apparatus main body and an operation control apparatus for controlling power supply to the main body. The apparatus has a clock for enumerating the current time, a time storage means for storing the time for turning on and off the power of the information processing apparatus set by a control program of the information processing apparatus, and the time of the clock is Time detection means for detecting when it is time to turn on the power or time to turn off the power stored in the time storage means,
Power-on means for turning on the power of the information processing device when the time detecting means detects that it is time to turn on the power, and information processing when the time detecting means detects that it is time to turn off the power. A power-off means for turning off the power of the apparatus, and when a power-off by the power-off means is detected, a shutdown process for saving data in use is requested to the operating system, and the shutdown process is completed. The main power supply of the information processing device is turned off.

According to the present invention, the power of the information processing apparatus main body is controlled to be turned on and off according to the instruction of the operation control apparatus, so that the power can be safely turned off without destroying data.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the internal system configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, this information processing apparatus has a CP
U101, host bridge 102, main memory 103, graphics controller 104, communication device 10
5, PCI-ISA bridge 106, I / O controller 107, hard disk drive (HDD) 108,
CD-ROM drive 109, BIOS-ROM 12
0, keyboard controller (KBC) 110, power supply 1
12, an operation control device 114 and the like are provided.

The CPU 101 is provided to control the operation of the information processing apparatus, and executes the operating system and application programs / utility programs loaded from the hard disk drive (HDD) 108 into the main memory 103.
The CPU 101 also executes the BIOS stored in the BIOS-ROM 120.

The host bridge 102 is a bridge device that bidirectionally connects the internal local bus of the CPU 101 and the PCI bus 1. The graphics controller 104 controls a display monitor (not shown) of this information processing apparatus. The communication device 105 is a PCI
One of the devices, which is used for connecting to a network, for example. I / O controller 107 is also PCI
One of the devices is a hard disk drive (HDD) 108 and a CD-ROM drive 10.
An IDE controller and the like for controlling the device 9 are built in. Here, the hard disk drive 108 (HD
Although D) is connected to the I / O controller 107, a SCSI controller or the like may be used instead.

The PCI-ISA bridge 106 is a PCI
It is a bridge device that connects bus 1 and ISA bus 2 bidirectionally, and here is a real-time clock (RTC).
In addition to 106a, various system devices such as a system timer, a DMA controller, and an interrupt controller are also incorporated. Real-time clock (RTC) 1
06a is a clock module that keeps time, for example,
Manage time information such as year, month, day, weekday, hour, minute, second. The time information of the real time clock (RTC) 106a is used as a date and time reference managed by the operating system. The real-time clock (RTC) 106a always operates with its own battery. In addition, the PCI-ISA bridge 106 has an SMB
us (System Management Bus)
3 is connected. Keyboard controller (KB
C) 110 controls the keyboard 111.

The BIOS is stored in the BIOS-ROM 120. This BIOS is a program for controlling hardware components in the information processing apparatus. This BIOS has a real-time clock (R
It also includes a function of reading time information from the TC) 106a. In addition, the BIOS has an APM (Advanced Power Man) that performs power saving control of the information processing device.
function) or ACPI (Advanc)
ed Configuration and Power
Interface) function is also included.

The power source 112 supplies various power sources necessary for the operation of the information processing apparatus, and is a + 5V power source (+ 5VD
The main power source 119 such as C) and the standby power source (+ 5VSB) 115 of + 5V which is always supplied and used for the operation of some circuits of the information processing device are output. An AC power supply 117 and a power switch 113 are connected to the power supply 112, and by pressing the power switch 113, the main power supply 119 supplied to the information processing apparatus main body is turned on and off. As the power switch 113, a momentary switch (switch connected while being pressed) is used. Operation control device 1
Reference numeral 14 is a device that turns on and off the main power source 119 of the power source 112 at a set time, and uses the power source 112 as an operating power source
Standby power (+ 5VSB) constantly supplied from
115, and the time information of power on / off is SMBu.
It is supplied from the control program executed by the CPU 101 via s3.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the operation control device 114 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

This apparatus includes a microcomputer 201, an electronic switch 202, a ROM 203, and an RA as shown in the figure.
The M204, the non-volatile memory 205, the clock 206, the interface 207, and the like. Then, the operation control device 114 uses the standby power supply 1 as the operating power supply.
15 (+ 5VSB) is used, and if the AC power supply 117 is supplied, it is always operating. The microcomputer 201 is provided to control the operation of the operation control device 114, and executes the control program stored in the ROM 203. The RAM 204 is used as a work area for executing the control program.

A schedule table 205a is provided in the non-volatile memory 205, and stores a power-on time and a power-off time.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the schedule table 205a according to the embodiment of the present invention. The schedule table 205a shown in FIG.
Although b and the power off time 205c are held in hours and minutes, the date and the like may be included. The schedule table 205a is set by the control program (not shown) of the information processing apparatus via the SM Bus 3. Here, the operation control device 114 and the information processing device use the SMBus3 to exchange data, but other means may be used.

The clock 206 is a clock that keeps the present time.
The control program stored in the ROM 203 may be either a clock that keeps time using the clock of the microcomputer 201 or a clock module that is built in the microcomputer 201 and keeps time. Further, it may be a timepiece module that keeps time independently of the microcomputer 201. The interface 207 is SMBus3
Data is exchanged with the information processing device via the.

The electronic switch 202 is the power switch 11
3 is a switch provided to turn on or off the main power source 119 supplied from the power source 112 of the information processing apparatus main body together with 3.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the electronic switch 202 and the power switch 113 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The electronic switch 202 and the power switch 113 are connected in parallel. The electronic switch 202 performs the same function as the momentary switch by holding the ON state for a certain period of time. The time for which the electronic switch 202 is held in the ON state is set to 500 milliseconds because it is approximately the same as the time for the power switch operation performed by the operator.
The holding time may be less than a second.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a process of turning on and off the main power source 119 of the information processing device by the operation control device 114.

The control program executed by the microcomputer 201 of the operation control device 114 first checks whether the main power supply 119 of the information processing device is on or off (step S300). Next, when the control program determines that the main power supply 119 of the information processing device is off (NO in step S300), the clock 20
6 is compared with the power-on time 205b of the schedule table 205a to check whether there is a power-on time 205b that matches the time of the clock 206 (step S30).
1). When the control program determines that there is the power-on time 205b that matches the time of the clock 206 (YES in step S301), the electronic switch 202 is turned on for the set time, and the power switch of the information processing device is turned on. By operating as a momentary switch similar to 113, the main power supply 119 of the information processing device is turned on (step S302).

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S300 that the main power supply 119 of the information processing apparatus is on, the time of the clock 206 and the power off time of the schedule table 205a 2
05c are compared and it is checked whether or not there is a power-off time 205c that matches the time of the clock 206 (step S30).
3). Then, when the control program determines that there is the power-off time 205c that coincides with the time of the clock 206 (YES in step S303), the electronic switch 202 is turned on for the set time, and the power switch 113 of the information processing device is turned on. By operating as a similar momentary switch, the main power supply 119 of the information processing apparatus is turned off (step S304).

FIG. 6 shows an AC in one embodiment of the present invention.
Clock 2 of the operation controller 114 when the power supply 117 is turned off
It is the flowchart which showed the recovery processing of the time of 06.

When the AC power supply 117 of the information processing apparatus is turned off, the standby power supply 115 (+ 5VSB) is also turned off. A
When the C power supply 117 is restored, the standby power supply 115 (+
5VSB) is also restored. Standby power supply 115 (+ 5V
Operation control device 11 using SB) as an operating power source
4 is reset when the standby power supply 115 (+ 5VSB) returns after the standby power supply 115 (+ 5VSB) is turned off (power-on reset). That is, when the microcomputer 201 in the operation control device 114 is reset, the microcomputer 206 using the reset process of FIG.
Perform the recovery process of.

In the recovery process of the clock 206 using the reset process, first, the main power supply 119 of the information processing apparatus is turned on to obtain the current time (step S310). Then, the current time is acquired from the information processing device (step S
311). The current time to be acquired may be either the time of the real-time clock (RTC) 106a of the information processing device or the time managed by the BIOS 120 of the information processing device. The acquired time is the clock 20 of the operation control device 114.
6 is set (step S312).

Further, the reset process is performed by the nonvolatile memory 20.
The schedule table 205a in 5 is checked to determine whether or not the information processing device should be turned on according to the schedule (step S313). If it is determined that the information processing device should be turned on (YES in step S313), the process ends. If it is determined that the information processing device should be off (NO in step S313), the main power supply 119 of the information processing device is turned off and the process ends (step S).
314). Note that in the above-described embodiment, the AC power source 117
When the microcomputer 201 is reset, it is detected that the clock has run out, but the time of the clock 206 becomes incorrect, or the standby power supply 115 (+ 5VS)
The process shown in FIG. 6 may be performed by, for example, detecting that B) has once been cut.

FIG. 7 shows A in the embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a flowchart showing an operation of powering off the information processing apparatus when using an operating system compatible with PM or ACPI.

When the power switch 113 is pressed or the electronic switch 202 of the operation control device 114 is turned off while the main power source 119 of the information processing device is turned on, the BIOS executed by the CPU 101 is turned off. Is detected (step S320). Upon detecting the power-off operation, the BIOS notifies the operating system (step S321). Then, the operating system terminates running applications by shutting down, saves data in use,
The file is closed (step S322).

When the shutdown process is completed, the operating system requests the BIOS to turn off the power (step S323), and the BIOS turns off the main power supply 119 of the information processing device (step S324). Since the shutdown processing as described above is performed by using an operating system compatible with APM or ACPI as in the present invention, it is possible to safely turn off the power of the information processing apparatus without causing data destruction.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process for synchronizing the time of the information processing device and the clock 206 of the operation control device 114 in the embodiment of the present invention. CPU1
The BIOS executed in 01 is the main power supply 1 of the information processing device.
When 19 is input, the BIOS startup processing routine transmits the time of the real-time clock (RTC) 106a or the current time of the BIOS to the operation control device 114 via the SM Bus 3 (step S330). When the operation control device 114 receives the current time via the SMBus3, the operation control device 114 sets it in the clock 206 and synchronizes the time of the information processing device main body with the clock 206 of the operation control device 114.
Although the BIOS boot processing routine transmits the current time here, an application or the like that powers on the information processing apparatus and boots the operating system to automatically execute may be performed.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an operation control device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The difference from the configuration of FIG. 2 is the operation control device 21.
0 is operating on the battery 211 and is always operating regardless of the state of the AC power supply 117. In addition, since data is transferred to and from an external information processing device via the interface 212, a USB interface is used as an interface.
(Universal Serial Bus) 213
And RS232C is used for communication.

When this apparatus is installed inside the information processing apparatus, an internal bus such as SMBus3 may be used as the interface 212.

The second embodiment of the present invention is the same as that of the first embodiment except that a battery 211 is used as an operating power source and an interface 212 is different.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, the power supply of the information processing apparatus can be turned on / off at the set time, and the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the inside of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an operation control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schedule table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between switches according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of power-on / off according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of time recovery processing when the time is lost in the operation control device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of turning off the power according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a process of synchronizing the time of the information processing device body and the time of the operation control device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an operation control device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram using an uninterruptible power supply device according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 SMBus 112 power 115 Standby power supply (+ 5VSB) 119 Main power supply 113 power switch 114, 210 Operation control device 201 CPU 202 electronic switch 203 ROM 204 RAM 205 non-volatile memory 205a schedule table 205b Power on time 205c Power off time 207, 212 interface 211 batteries 213 USB

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An information processing apparatus comprising: an information processing apparatus main body; and an operation control apparatus for controlling power supply to the main body, wherein the operation control apparatus includes a clock that keeps a current time, and the information processing apparatus. A time storage means for storing the time when the power of the device is turned on and off; and detecting that the time of the clock reaches the time when the power is turned on or the time when the power is turned off, which is stored in the time storage means. Means for turning on and off, a power on / off means for turning on / off the power of the information processing apparatus when it is detected by the time detecting means that the power is on / off, and a power off by the power on / off means When the shutdown process is detected, the operating system is requested to perform a shutdown process for saving the data in use, and when the shutdown process is completed, the main power of the information processing device is An information processing apparatus characterized by turning off a power source. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power supply supplied to the operation control device is not a main power supply supplied to the information processing apparatus main body but a standby power supply always supplied. apparatus. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the time storage means stores time in a non-volatile memory. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the clock is a clock built in a microcomputer or an external timer clock. 5. The information processing apparatus main body has a time setting means for setting an internal time to the timepiece of the operation control apparatus at startup, and synchronizes the time of the information processing apparatus main body with the timepiece of the operation control apparatus. Claim 1 characterized by the above.
The information processing device described. 6. A method for controlling the operation of an information processing apparatus, comprising: an information processing apparatus main body; and an operation control apparatus for controlling power supply to the main body, wherein the operation control apparatus includes a standby power supply for the information processing apparatus. The time storage means that is constantly supplied and stores the power-on time and power-off time of the information processing device in the time storage means provided in the operation control device, and the time of the clock provided in the operation control device is stored in the time storage means. Shutdown processing for controlling the on / off of the main power of the information processing device at the stored power-on time and power-off time, and saving the data in use to the operating system when the power-off is detected Is requested and the main power supply of the information processing apparatus is turned off when the shutdown processing is completed. . 7. The time stored in the time storage means of the operation control device is set to the internal time held by the information processing device when the standby power supply is turned off and then the standby power supply is restored. 6. The operation control method of the information processing device according to 6.